Steps Toward SustainableHigh-ContainmentLaboratories

With the recent news about Ebola, MERS, extremely drug-resistant TB and other emerging and re-emerging diseases, the
world-wide need for high-containment laboratories is at an all-time high. These laboratories are
highly complex buildings that serve as a barrier
between the dangerous pathogens handled in the
laboratory and the surrounding environment.

The sophisticated heating, ventilation and
air-conditioning (HVAC) systems with single-pass air, N+1 redundancies, dedicated
electrical connections with backup generators
and enhanced security measures make these
buildings costly to build and expensive to
operate. The majority of performance guidance
documents are written in developed countries,
while the greatest need is sometimes in remote
and underserved areas of the world. This dichotomy has brought the need for modular laboratory buildings as an alternate to attempts at locally
engineered and constructed laboratories.

In addition, some parts of the world lack theelectrical and mechanical resources required tosupport a high-containment laboratory. Greaterlevels of quality control can be achieved whenconstructing modular laboratories, as they en-able complicated construction and testing to becompleted in a controlled factory setting priorto delivery. Of equal importance, a modular lab-oratory allows for the incorporation of uniqueoptions for energy savings.

1 (BSL-1) for working with materials that pose
minimal potential risk of illness, to BSL- 4 where
the agents pose extremely high risk of illness
or death. BSL- 3 is suitable for handling moderate risk agents, many of which are prevalent in
nature. A BSL- 3 laboratory is uniquely suited for
studying agents that can be transmitted through
the air and cause serious or potentially lethal
infection. Historically, BSL- 3 laboratories have
been constructed as part of a larger building
where they are separated from lower BSL laboratories and support space, and surrounded by
non-containment spaces. A modular laboratory
differs from this traditional model as the laboratory and the support space are contained in a
single modular building.

Specialized HVAC systems and air filtration
are at the heart of the operation of biocontain-ment laboratories. They are characterized by
high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtered
exhaust air and cascades of increasing directional airflow as you move from clean spaces
into potentially contaminated laboratory spaces.
Conditioned air isn’t recirculated like in a typical
HVAC system, meaning the system is forced to
cool 100% of the required air from hot, humid
outdoor air. To facilitate drawing any airborne
pathogens into the building HEPA filter, the
rate of airflow per room volume, known as air
changes per hour (ACH), is also elevated. The
combination of these features is responsible
for the containment benefits inherent in these
buildings, but they are also responsible for
extremely high levels of energy consumption.

Traditionally, the air within a BSL- 3 laboratory
is changed eight to 12 times per hour, but it isn’t
uncommon to find the heat load from the equipment within drives the air exchange rate higher.
Modular laboratories allow for some unique
opportunities to reduce energy consumption
while providing the highest levels of containment expected of BSL- 3 laboratories.

Recently, two modular laboratories of similar
size and function were constructed and deployed in two separate locations around the
globe (Southeast Asia and the Caribbean), utilizing similar equipment, and into regions with
similar peak HVAC design loads. Both regions
were found to have similar peak temperatures
and humidity levels, allowing them to be compared as some key energy-saving features were

Table 1: Energy consumption by system

System k W%

HVAC System 57.3%

Autoclave 20%

Class II BSC(s) 3.4%

Monitoring Systems/
Alarm

0.6%

Power Backup/
Conditioning

1.4%

Analytical Equipment 4%

Computer System 0.8%

Laboratory Equipment 10%

CCTV Video System 0.9%

Lighting 1.3%

Total 100.0%

Modular laboratories offer a practical solution to energy efficiency and handlingdangerous pathogens we encounter today and in the future. Caribbean laboratory with heat-producingcomponents removedfrom laboratory space.